Bradley, Thomas give Beane reason to beam

Billy Beane had to enjoy the A’s 9-4 win over the Yankees on Wednesday night. Specifically, Beane had to appreciate three plate appearances involving two of the players he acquired in the offseason.

Plate appearance #1: Milton Bradley was up with the bases loaded and two down in the 5th, with the A’s trailing 4-3. That’s a natural spot for a hitter to become too eager, even more so when the hitter gets down in the count 0-2, as Bradley did. Bradley, though, coaxed four consecutive balls from Chien-Ming Wang, tying the game and ending the New York starter’s night.

Plate appearance #2: Bradley again, leading off the 8th in a 4-4 game. He tagged Jaret Wright for a drive over the head of Johnny Damon in left-center. Bradley showed power and speed, motoring for a triple. Soon thereafter, he scored the go-ahead run. For all the talk of Bradley’s potential, he came into 2006 as a .269 career hitter, and had not hit more than 19 homers or driven in more than 67 runs in a big-league season. Those numbers aren’t impressive; Bradley’s performance Wednesday night was.

Plate appearance #3: Frank Thomas, facing Kyle Farnsworth with the bases loaded and two outs and the A’s leading 6-4 in the 8th. He capped the five-run rally by clearing the bases with a double that seemed to hang in the air for about two minutes.

Almost as important to the A’s as Thomas’ three-run double was the fact he was still in the lineup in the eighth inning, having been the DH the previous two games as well. Given his injury problems the past two seasons, Thomas is no lock to play three consecutive games at any time this season. That he did it in the first three games, all played in less-than-ideal weather conditions, has to be encouraging for Beane and A’s fans.